SPIRITUAL WARFARE PART 3

FEAR/WORRY ARE TWO OF SATAN'S MOST EFFECTIVE WEAPONS AGAINST BELIEVERS

      FEAR VS TRUST

 KEEP IN MIND THAT FEAR AND TRUST RUN PARALLEL TO EACH OTHER

LET'S CONSIDER THE PERFECT EXAMPLE OF FEAR AND TRUST BY LOOKING AT MATTHEW 8:23-27 AND MARK 4:35-41


"JESUS INSTRUCTED HIS DISCIPLES TO CROSS TO THE OTHER SIDE OF THE SEA OF GALILEE...NOW WHEN HE GOT INTO THE BOAT, HIS DISCIPLES FOLLOWED HIM AND SUDDENLY A GREAT TEMPEST AROSE ON THE SEA SO THAT THE BOAT WAS COVERED WITH THE WAVES. BUT HE WAS ASLEEP. THEN HIS DISCIPLES CAME TO HIM, SAYING 'LORD, SAVE US!  WE ARE PERISHING!' BUT HE SAID TO THEM; 'WHY ARE YOU FEARING O YOU OF LITTLE FAITH?' THEN HE AROSE AND REBUKED THE WIND AND THE SEA, AND THERE WAS A GREAT CALM."

HIS DISCIPLES WHO WERE IN THE VERY PRESENCE OF THE CREATOR OF THE UNIVERSE FEARED FOR THEIR LIVES. SADLY, THEY REALLY DIDN'T KNOW JUST WHO THIS JESUS WAS.....BUT THEN THEY SAW HIM IN ACTION, FOR HE TOOK HIS AUTHORITY AND SPOKE AGAINST THE 'TEMPEST' WHO HAD TO OBEY HIS COMMAND, AS SATAN HAS TO OBEY OUR COMMAND UTTERED IN THAT NAME ABOVE ALL NAMES, JESUS THE CHRIST...FOR IF JESUS ABIDES IN US AND THOSE OF US WHO ARE FILLED WITH THE HOLY SPIRIT, WE ARE EMPOWERED TO COMMAND THE STORMS IN OUR LIVES AS WELL.."PEACE BE STILL!"  YES, WE CAN...LET ME SHARE A PERSONAL TESTIMONY CONCERNING OUR AUTHORITY AS SPIRIT-FILL BELIEVERS.


 SEVERAL YEARS AGO, MY WIFE AND I WERE VISITING OUR DAUGHTER AND FAMILY IN KANSAS CITY, KS.  IT WAS LATE IN THE AFTERNOON AND IT BECAME USUALLY DARK.  ALL OF A SUDDEN THERE WAS A NEWS FLASH ON THE TELEVISION ANNOUNCING THAT FIVE TORNADOES WERE HEADED OUR WAY! OBVIOUSLY THAT WAS AN ATTENTION GETTER! SINCE IT WAS GETTING CLOSE TO DINNER TIME, OUR SON-IN-LAW HAD ORDERED "TAKE OUT" AND ASKED ME WHAT I THOUGHT ABOUT OUR GOING TO PICK IT UP!  I WAS SURPRISED BY HIS QUESTION, THINKING "THERE IS NO WAY WE NEED TO VENTURE OUT! THEN I HEARD MYSELF DECLARING "YES, LET'S GO FOR IT"
WE HEADED OUT AND NOT LONG INTO THE TRIP, I SAID TO MY SON-IN-LAW, "THIS IS GOING TO SOUND VERY STRANGE TO YOU, BUT I AM GOING TO PRAY AGAINST THESE FIVE TORNADOES HEADING STRAIGHT FOR US.AND I AM GOING TO USE A WORD IN MY PRAYER THAT I VERY SELDOM USE AND THAT IS 'DISSIPATE"! I TOOK A FEW MINUTES TO SHARE THE STORY ABOUT JESUS IN THE BOAT AND SPEAKING "PEACE BE STILL" TO THE STORM, AND THE STORM CEASED! I PRAYED THE PRAYER, WE CONTINUED ON,  ARRIVING AT THE RESTAURANT AND WENT IN TO THE BAR AREA  WHERE THE "TAKE OUT" WAS.....AS WE WALKED IN, THERE WERE SEVERAL TV MONITORS PLAYING AND WE SAW/HEARD A METEOROLOGIST DECLARING:" FOLKS, WE DON'T UNDERSTAND THIS, BUT THE FIVE TORNADOES HAVE DISSIPATED!"

TO BE CONTINUED IN THE NEXT BLOG.....

                                      TO GOD BE THE GLORY, HONOR AND PRAISE